人生沒有用不到的經歷

這兩天Former LSE PhD Law student Dr.Tsai Ing-wen一詞掀起熱議，正解是：如果蔡英文真的有拿到LSE的PhD，正確的英文寫法是LSE PhD graduate Dr. Tsai Ing-wen。

「Former」這字在病歷中常被R1照著用。
「Former」與「Previous」的主要差別在「Former」強調「The person or object was something, but no longer is.」。例如：
He was my former business coworker。他是我以前生意上的合夥人(但現在不是)。
The baseball field was established from the former Jason Shopping Center。這棒球場是從以前的Jason購物中心蓋起來的(現在已不是Jason Shopping Center)。

如果你沒在表達「The person or object was something, but no longer is.」，最好用「Previous」比較不會出錯。

在一家醫院的病歷上若有人用「former surgery」，大家就會一窩蜂跟著用，例如：
Abdomen: A surgical scar due to former surgery of HCC。最好寫成：
Abdomen: A surgical scar due to previous surgery of HCC。

CXR: Elevation of the right hemidiaphragm due to former lung surgery。最好寫成：
CXR: Elevation of the right hemidiaphragm due to previous lung surgery。

那病歷上甚麼時候可以用「Former」？
There is a 1.5-cm radiolucent lesion in the right upper lobe, which was the former (previous) lung cancer。
這句用「former」與「previous」有何差別？
「previous」有在強調「The person/object was something before someone/something else took over or replaced it.」。
如果用「former」意指該lesion已不是lung cancer。
如果用「previous」意指該lung caner經手術切除後在X光片中被1.2-cm radiolucent lesion取代。